“Commissioner Katz’s autocratic leadership and misplaced priorities have undermined the effectiveness of her agency, put children at risk, and eroded public trust,” Fasano said. “Recent reports, including the Child Advocate’s report released yesterday, highlight the disturbing reality of persistent issues within DCF including the abuse of children at DCF’s locked facilities, the agency’s failure to investigate many of these cases, and a continuous struggle to embrace transparency.”

Katz was one of Democratic Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s first appointments. Malloy plucked Katz from the Supreme Court bench and said her work experience — first as a public defender and then as a judge — leaves her well-prepared to lead a bureaucracy that has “too often failed our children.”